The Harness Horse 



adopted with success is to pass the curb reins 

 through the rings of a running martingale. This, 

 as has been pointed out, has the advantage that 

 directly a horse ceases to fight against the hand 

 you can ease the pressure. I have seldom found 

 it fail to restrain a too eager horse. But I frankly 

 confess I dislike a horse I cannot hold fairly easily, 

 and never ride one if I can help it. The poor 

 man, however, must not reject a horse because he 

 pulls more than he likes. Many horses do this 

 simply because they have been badly ridden, or 

 when they are fresh or because they want to be 

 in front. A certain keenness is desirable. Several 

 hard-pulling hordes have passed through my 

 hands. Of these one succumbed to the judicious 

 use of a gag in about three weeks. He had been 

 trained for steeplechasing, but turned out quite a 

 pleasant hunter in an ordinary short cheeked 

 double bridle. A mare that came to me with the 

 character of being a hard puller never went 

 happily till she had the same light bridle on. 

 The third required a lot of work, and generally 

 ran away if he had not been out hunting twice in 

 the week. It took me a little time to find this 

 out. But there was no difficulty afterwards. I 

 was quite willing to have an extra day. It was 

 clear that if I could not hold him the horse was 

 no use, so that the risk of breaking him down did 

 not come into the calculation. 



In whatever bit a horse is ridden, in that he 

 6i 



